Jury will hear closing arguments, begin deliberations Thursday

In a matter of hours, the same Westmoreland County jury that convicted Ricky Smyrnes on all six felony charges related to Jennifer Daugherty's torture and murder will decide whether he is sentenced to death or life in prison.

In the final day of testimony at Smyrnes' sentencing trial, defense lawyers put his adoptive mother Audrey Smyrnes on the stand. She testified she adopted Ricky when he was ten years old. "I knew he was going to take a lot of patience. I thought I could do it all," she testified.

Audrey was aware Ricky was abused physically, emotionally and sexually as a toddler, but she thought she could help him be successful in life if she loved him unconditionally, she said.

The Smyrnes family underwent years of struggles with Ricky, including his vandalizing and stealing from the next-door neighbor, assaulting a classmate and his inability to keep a job or be left home alone. Audrey also testified Ricky didn't have many friends. "He couldn't maintain a relationship," she testified. She also said he couldn't relate to the children in North Huntingdon because he "scared" them by discussing how he "grew up on the streets" in Pittsburgh.

After Ricky became an adult and married, Audrey testified he fathered two children, moved out and stole some of her furniture. When she went to ask him and his wife Karena about it, she testified both of them started swearing at her, Ricky pushed her and said he would kill her. After that, Audrey testified she got a protection from abuse order against Ricky and she cut off all contact with him. "I could do nothing but release him and pray," she testified.

"I knew deep in my heart something would happen, but I thought it would happen to him," Audrey told jurors. She testified she tried three times to visit him in the Westmoreland County Prison following his arrest for the February 2010 torture and murder of Jennifer Daugherty. Audrey told the court one time she actually drove nearly the entire way to the prison, but she was not emotionally ready to see him and became physically ill. She did not look at Ricky once in court.

Defense lawyers previously presented witnesses who testified Ricky is mentally retarded. If the jury finds he is mentally retarded, he will be ineligible for the death penalty under Pennsylvania law.

Ricky is the convicted ringleader of the "Greensburg 6" -- the group of six co-defendants charged in the torture and killing of Daugherty. She had a romantic interest in Ricky. Ricky's then-girlfriend Angela Marinucci became upset over Daugherty's interest in Ricky. She was previously convicted and sentenced to life in prison for her role in the killing.

Co-defendant Melvin Knight was already sentenced to death in the case. Amber Meidinger, Peggy Miller and Robert Masters are awaiting trial.